1. Filed of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card connector for an electronic device and a contact used therein. In particular, the present invention relates to a card connector that can selectively receive IC cards having different sizes and a contact used therein, in which the contact for electrically connecting the electronic device with the IC card has an improved structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, more electronic devices such as cell phones, cameras, readers/writers, notebook personal computers, or the like can provide enhanced functions by being connected with an IC card including therein a CPU or an IC for memory control. A conventional card connector as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-195546, for example, only has a contact to be connected to one external contact points (pads) on an IC card. Therefore, when required to provide enhanced functions by being connected with a plurality of IC cards having different sizes depending on the functions included in the IC cards, a conventional card connector must include IC card receiving spaces corresponding to the sizes of the respective IC cards and contacts provided in each of the spaces, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,529. As this causes the card connector to have a larger size, this is not desirable for the recent trend in which electronic devices have lighter and more compact bodies. To resolve the above problems, such a card connector has been suggested that the IC cards having different sizes (e.g., for thickness, length, width) and having the same pad pitch are allowed to be inserted in a common card receiving space as retaining space for the IC card as well as sharing contacts arranged within the card receiving space. By sharing contacts in this way, the card connector can omit the card receiving spaces, thus suppressing the increase in size of the connector and consequently the electronic device.
However, such a contact-sharing structure causes the problem as described below especially in the case of IC cards having different lengths.
Specifically, there will be considered a case in which contacts are provided in the card receiving space so as to correspond to the pad of an IC card for which the length in the direction along which the IC card is inserted to the card receiving space of the card connector is longer. In such a case, when the card receiving space is inserted with an IC card having a shorter length to bring the pad into contact with the contacts, the IC card having a shorter length may be entirely enclosed in the card receiving space of the card connector. This causes a risk in which the pad of the IC card having a shorter length cannot bring into perfect contact with the contacts in the card receiving space, thus preventing the IC card from being attached to the card connector by a function of an eject mechanism. This also makes it difficult, when the IC card is exchanged with another one, to remove by a hand the IC card having a shorter length and being entirely enclosed in the card receiving space and then may completely prevent the IC card from being removed. The reason is that, in the case of a push/push type eject mechanism for example, there is a risk in which this eject mechanism cannot eject the IC card unless the attached IC card is pushed thereto again and, if the IC card having a shorter length is entirely enclosed in the card receiving space as described above, the IC card cannot be pushed thereto again, thus preventing the card from being taken out.
On the contrary, there will be considered a case in which contacts are provided in the card receiving space so as to correspond to the pad of the IC card having a shorter length. In this case, when the card receiving space is inserted with an IC card having a longer length, the rear end of the card excessively protrudes from the card receiving space and thus protrudes from the case of the electronic device. This causes a risk in which the IC card may be an obstacle that may be caught by some reason, thus causing the IC card to be detached from the card receiving space or causing the pad and the contact to have an imperfect contact. In order to prevent this, the electronic device must have an increased size, which is not desirable for a portable electronic device in particular.
In order to solve the problems as described above, the present applicant has already suggested a card connector including a card receiving space in which the rear ends of IC cards having different lengths are set at the same predetermined position. In this case, a plurality of contacts in the card receiving space are arranged in a plurality of rows. Such a structure is complicated with an increased number of components therein and requires a longer time for arranging the contacts in the card receiving space when the card connector is manufactured.
In view of the above, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a card connector in which one of two IC cards can be selectively received therein. This card connector has a card receiving space having an improved structure in which contacts are arranged to simplify the structure thereof and can be manufactured in an easy manner.